Station Eleven Theme Analysis

In The Taker by J. M. Steele, Carly Biels is a teenager who has a dream to ace the SAT without help of the Taker. The Taker is an anonymous person who goes from person to person, asking them if they want him to take the SAT for them. All she wants in life is for her family and boyfriend, Brad, to be happy for her. All she needs to do is bomb the high school SAT. However when she gets her scores back from the practice SAT, she realizes she needs to up her game. After she found out her scores, she got a text from the Taker he said he can help her. As a result, her parents, friends, and teachers recommend she should be tutored by the smartest but not popular kid in school, Ronald Gross. In the end, Carly decides to not use the Taker but use Ronald.

Station Eleven is a story filled with many different plotlines and backstories, all intricately woven together to paint a fascinating image of life after the Georgia Flu pandemic. The character development is one of the most intriguing parts of the novel, as the reader is surprised again and again with the actions and connections of each figure. Many of the characters enter both as background members in some scenes and as main characters in others, so that their stories flow smoothly with the others. Two characters that this can be applied to are Tyler, Arthur’s son, and Kirsten, a child actor turned into a performer with a travelling groupe after the near-extinction of the human race. They both grew and developed out of this tragedy, being

Memory affects the way people think and what they do after an epidemic. In the novel Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel, memory plays an important role for Kirsten, Clark, and François. These three characters all create and collect to live in their memories; Kirsten gets tattoos and Clark makes a museum, while François creates a library and publishes newspapers.

The Devil’s Arithmetic, a novel by Jane Yolen, is very inspiring to me. It explains the feelings of not only just Hannah, but many others. It lets me know that in any situation, you can always persevere. Although this book can be sad, the sadness is powerful. It takes you to a whole new perspective of the Holocaust, not just through facts, but actually living it. Hannah has to remember anything and everything. Why? Remembering is a huge part of this story and is represented largeley in many different ways.

When thrown in a unique situation, how one reacts may not reflect their normal social behavior. In fact, it may push an individual to react in a way that could be deemed negative, regardless of having a genuine and positive nature. In the novel Station Eleven written by Emily St. John Mandel, the author explores the conflict desires between good and evil in a post- apocalyptic world. Mandel shows the conflict between good and bad through the characters of Kristen, the Prophet and the boy.

“You remember what you want to forget and you forget what you want to remember,” (McCarthy 12). With most aspects of life, the horrendous moments are the times that no one can erase. This applied to The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Towards the end of the novel when the son loses his father proves to be the most indelible moment with the assistance of the feelings experienced during that part. The son encounters a variety of emotions including loneliness, loss and hope. In enduring these complex emotions, this section was the most remarkable part.

King Arthur is one of the best kings that has ruled over Britain, throughout all of history. Arthur ruled with honor, loyalty, and chivalry, which made him a great king. Many lessons that he learned on his journeys helped him to become the person that he is. Arthur’s journey becoming king can be seen in the novel The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White, and is very similar to Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey.

Repaying debts, justice, friendship, charity, contests, the mixing of classes and good versus evil are important themes in A Gest of Robyn Hode.

What core elements define the essence of humanity? In Mandel’s novel, one is compelled to reconsider the defining characteristics of humanity. Mandel structures the plot of Station Eleven around the main character Arthur Leander’s life. Throughout the novel, Mandel explores a series of sub character’s perspectives of the flu pandemic and each of their roles in the post-apocalyptic world it creates, encouraging the reader to delve into the relationships between humanity and art. Book reviewer Justine Jordan from The Guardian summarizes the book perfectly by claiming that “Station Eleven is not so much about [an] apocalypse as about memory and loss, nostalgia, and yearning” (Jordan, par. 5). Instead of following a typical linear pattern of plot,

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams is a peculiar story about the universe and aliens. It starts out with Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect on Earth however, Earth soon gets destroyed by aliens and they have to catch a ride on a spaceship. Arthur and Ford experience many adventures together such as arriving the the Heart of Gold. Adams brings up many deeper meanings and questions while using comedy in order to describe his characters. He uses many different techniques to make the reader laugh yet question ideas from the book. The characters have different personalities and thoughts that make them unique.

I believe that Remembering is a good thing it can help build you up or tear you down but it’s all in how you let it affect you. People have been through the worst of the worst like from Elie Weisel a quote from nights saying when we arrived and were walking of the cattle cars I went to the left with my father to the right my sister and my mother and at that moment I knew I would never see their faces ever again”, and that right there that moment defines Elie that hard and painful time made him strong and able to tell his story and inspire. And from Interment a girl say’s “it was a branding of her own indignation”, that goes to show that the Japanese when they were put in train cars and taken away from their home, it really goes along with the

Conflict can influence an individual’s decisions and actions. People have conflicts everyday. Conflicts can sometimes be as simple as which milk you are going to buy. Conflicts can also be as difficult as watching your parents going through a divorce. Some people can prevail because they learn how to live with the difficulties of adversity. In “The Impossible Knife of Memory,” Hayley has to deal with the adversity of living with her father whose PTSD is tearing him apart. Most people wouldn’t be able to handle the stress and pain it would bring. Some people can handle the stress of adversity with the help of others,support from loved ones and commitment to one’s self and family.

Nature is expressed in the world in many ways like beauty, peace, and youth, but it can also teach people lessons on how to live their life. The poem “Thanatopsis” by William Bryant, the short story of “ The Ambitious Guest” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and the essay “ Self Reliance” by Ralph Emerson all have lessons on how to live through nature. The poem Thanatopsis is about what nature has to say about death and dying. It discusses how everyone experiences death and it should be not be feared but embraced. The lesson teached by nature is explained through the quote “Go forth, under the open sky, and list

Art Spiegelman offers a very unique point of view in his two narratives, Maus I and Maus II. In these two books, Spiegelman takes us through the life of his father Vladek and his journey during World War II in Europe. Spiegleman also confronts how post-memory has effected him through the years, even when he was growing up. These two books reflect perfectly on a survivors story using symbolism and analogy.

1.“Oh, yes. Oh, yes, yes, yes. Someday you be walking down the road and you hear something or see something going on. So clear. And you think it’s you thinking it up. A thought picture. But no. It’s when you bump into a rememory that belongs to somebody else. Where I was before I came here, that place is real. It’s never going away. Even if the whole farm - every tree and grass blade of it dies. The picture is still there and what’s more, if you go there - you who never was there - if you go there and stand in the place where it was, it will happen again; it will be there for you, waiting for you. So, Denver you can’t never go there. Never. Because even though it’s all over - over and done with - it’s going to always be there waiting for you. That’s how come I had to get all my children out. No matter